April 25, 2021

“The times they are a-changin’” Bob Dylan sang in the late 60s. [See album cover.] I am old enough to remember that, and it is certainly true that time brings change. I do not move nearly as fast as I did in the 1960s and I am now much more fond of naps in the afternoon.

Sometimes we welcome change and sometimes we resist change, but it happens in any case. I can remember floppy drives and diskettes. Now everything is up in the cloud. Like many, I struggle to keep up and wish the pace of change would slow, at least for a while.

One of the more curious things, at least to me, is the phenomenon of young people who are resistant to change in the Church, or more accurately, want to go backwards to the way the Church was prior to Vatican Council II. Perhaps they are looking for more of a sense of tradition, of being connected to a faith and culture that has perdured over many centuries, that would give them a sense of security, a firm place to stand in a rapidly changing world. Perhaps they are great searching for a sense of identity, of a haven where not everything is established, known, certain and sure and stable. Perhaps they are looking for a deeper sense of transcendence, of a way to approach the mysterious presence of God, and they find that the ancient, more foreign ways of worship help them plug deeper into the sense of the otherness of the Holy.

None of those things are bad. However, they are sometimes associated with a stance that is rigid and judgmental. And that is not so good. And it greatly puzzles me.

Negotiating change, so that we continue to grow and develop, rather than stagnate and die, is a lifelong task. We need to continue to move forward, not backward. We need to operate out of hope, not out of fear. The Kingdom of God lies, not behind in the past, but ahead in God’s future.

God bless!